Complete Method Book

I’ve been using A Modern Method for Guitar – Volumes 1 2 3 Complete ( Berklee Press) with some of my guitar students, and I recommend it for helping establish a solid foundation for serious musicians. Like so many method books, it has it’s particular approach, but it’s one that not only emphasizes exercises but also explains technique as it goes and is very inclusive. This method book was first recommended to me last summer by jazz guitarist Steve Jacobson , and I wish I’d discovered it long ago.

Keep the Beat

An absolutely critical aspect of successful music-making is keeping the beat, in particular the downbeat of each measure.

Some of my rock-star students lose the beat because they’re busy filling up space with flashy riffs and fast action. I tell them that no one will want them in the band if they can’t play along with others.

Playing with a metronome helps, especially one that emphasizes the first beat of each measure, tapping one’s foot can help—unless it doesn’t, and especially I think it’s a good idea for a player to do less. The idea is to add elements as the timekeeping improves.

Simplify at first, add the bells and whistles later.

Carry a Pick

I always have a pick in my wallet.

Get a Guitar Stand

Get a guitar stand because one day your guitar, when leaned against something, will fall. When it falls, it will probably not sustain any damage, but it might. If it does, you’ll kick yourself for not having a stand. And if you have a stand but don’t use it, you’ll feel even worse.

And a bruise from a fall is so much less appealing than wear from excessive play.

Inspiration

You can imagine sources of inspiration, I’m sure you have them. You certainly were inspired somehow to play guitar in the first place—unless you were forced to do so. I want to offer a particular source of inspiration we all experience that you might overlook: the inspiration of dull and boring exercises or songs you really have no desire to play.

How can things you don’t want to play inspire you? In general, exercises you’re give by your instructor are for a greater goal than simply mastering the exercise. And performing less interesting material usually happens because, well, someone wants you to play it.

These less-interesting moments are stepping-stones to where you want to be.
I recently requested a student to work especially hard on piece he really didn’t like, that his reward would be something more interesting to play. I felt I had to manipulate him in this way because he was always rushing ahead and doing a sloppy job of pieces he was not yet able to play. By cutting a deal with him, I was able to inspire him with material that, to his mind, was dull and boring.

Life inspires us. Every step is progress. Be inspired by what’s lackluster in your life.

Thumbing Down the Back of the Neck

There’s a human, physical inclination for your thumb to become stuck on the back of the guitar neck as you move from higher to lower positions. You might try lifting the thumb off the neck as you make these downward transitions, you might use your guitar polish on the back of the neck to effectively grease that area, but my basic advice is to do what works for you so your thumb doesn’t hang-up higher on the neck as you move down towards the nut.

If your thumb does get stuck you’re liable to play wrong notes, because you’re no longer in a good position.

A Written Record

Keep a music journal. Put it in a form that appeals to you. If it’s on paper, it can be a record of your practice, or articles you read and like—pasted pictures, even. If it’s electronic, it may include sound files, YouTube videos, whatever.

Keep a written record to support your history, so you know where you’ve been. It may give you an idea where you’re headed.

It may help your teacher track your progress as well, to understand you better, to better assist you.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The old admonishment (and smart answer to the question, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?”) is generally taken to mean that you should practice continually. (If you practiced constantly you’d collapse and die.)

Of course it’s good advice.

What’s less known is that you do need to have those times between practice, and that they should come rather frequently. If you’re practicing a half-hour, try practicing 15 minutes, taking a 15 minute break to do something else, then practice the same material over again during a final 15 minute bout. Take a page from studies about studying, which show that reviewing material after a brief break helps push that material from short-term into long-term memory.

Anything with Frets on It

When asked, I tell people I play anything with frets on it. This is true, though I certainly play some fretted instruments better than others. And I’m sure there’s some fretted instruments I’ve never even seen, much less played.

Playing different instruments makes me giggle. It’s like everything’s familiar, but whacky—especially the first time you pick up a ukulele. You don’t even have to know how it’s tuned, just feel your way.

Try it sometime!

Which "G"?

It’s interesting to me that some younger students confuse the register of a note. Having learned first to play “G” on the 1st string, they confuse it with the open “G” once they learn the third string.

Same for young singing students, especially if their voices are changing. Which octave are they singing in? Nothing wrong with teaching kids to sing so as long as they don’t push their developing instrument—and of course it’s great to start children on the guitar early. Just make sure it’s a small one.

Relax

People don’t often hear your mistakes, they hear the music, get the overall effect. Take a lesson from actors who perform “in the moment.” When performing for others you should never do-over a poorly played note. And when practicing you shouldn’t do-over either, or not often. If you stop every time you make a mistake, you’ll get in a bad habit of doing so, and you’ll stop-and-start when others are listening. Amateur actors correct mistakes they make speaking, pros behave as if they’d spoken correctly, and move on.

Your Own Picking Style

I have my own picking style which I no longer teach because I do not have the hubris I had when I was a young teacher. Back then, I thought it was important for me to teach my method—who else would? But there’s no evidence that my personal style is better than others, and some that it may be limiting. So I keep my style for myself, but am sharing it here to invite comment.

My style is based on the method I use for the right (strumming) hand. I assign the thumb to the lower strings (4,5,6) and each of my first three fingers to each of the high strings (1,2, 3). If I have a note repeating on any string I don’t use alternate fingers, which slows me down, but it also enforces an exact position of my fingers for each string, so playing melodies across strings is very easy and deliberate. It’s also easy to play chords interspersed with melody in this fashion, because the chords are always right under your finger tips, ready to be instantly played. It also is a great way to play arpeggio passages, or to invent melodies from chords just by striking strings in various sequences with their assigned finger.

My Guitar Bliss point here is that it’s okay to develop a style that reflects your enjoyment of the instrument. I’m sure some would disagree, including some who could out-play me, but I want to offer my opinion here that if a picking style works for you, it’s not wrong. You discover yourself in your music, and it’s reasonable and natural if your style is all your own.

Why Guitar?

Everyone who plays guitar has to ask themselves, why? There are legions of brilliant players of this popular instrument. There are countless fine musical recordings featuring the guitar, in virtually every style, from classical to rock. And if you must play, why not Guitar Hero?

The answer is personal for each of us. I play guitar because I’m a composer and I write for the guitar, usually songs. You might say I’m composing guitar accompaniments. Someone else wants to “shred” wildly, playing as fast (and as loudly) as possible. Still others want to just enjoy playing an instrument at parties, and a guitar is both portable and socially accepted. (If you brought a piccolo, people would think you strange—even if you played “Smoke on the Water.”)

Not everyone thinks or feels so much about it, however. Some people don’t know why they want to play, really, and sign up for lessons, deliberately play through each exercise their Mel Bay or Alfred’s lesson book contains, and even if they enjoy the process and learn to play well, there’s no suggestion that they want anything from the experience beyond having done it. I am happy to help such students learn, and admire their cool determination.

It’s easier for me to relate to those who have ulterior motives, though. Who just want to bang on the drum all day, write symphonies, or play Irish ballads because they love singing them.

Guitar Bliss is where you find it. Welcome to my blog.